The Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial 91ÊÓƵ at the University of Notre Dame is accepting entries until Oct. 14 (Friday) for its two business plan competitions.

The sixth annual McCloskey Notre Dame Business Plan Competition, with a grand prize of $15,000, is open to new ventures that have not yet been launched or are in their earliest stages.Up to $24,000 in prize money will be awarded to top finishers in the competition.

The Social Venture Plan Competition is open to business initiatives that have a social mission or purpose. It will award more that $5,000 in total prize money.

Each individual or team entry must include participation by at least one full-time Notre Dame student or a graduate of the University. Finalists will make their presentations April 28, and announcement of the winning entries for both competitions will be made that day in ceremonies at Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business.

For more information, contact the Gigot Center at 574-631-3042 or entrep@nd.edu .Registration forms and competition guidelines are available on the Web at .

* _ *Contact : Melissa Paulsen, Gigot Center program manager, 574-631-7568_

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Theologian and author Michael Novak will discuss his bookBusiness as a Callingat4 p.m.Friday (Sept. 16) in the Jordan Auditorium of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.

The director of social and political studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Novak also is the institutes George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion and Public Policy. He is the author of 24 books on the philosophy and theology of culture and received the $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1994. He was the Welch Visiting Professor of American 91ÊÓƵ at Notre Dame in 1987-88 and also has taught at Harvard, Stanford andSyracuseUniversitiesand the State University of New York.

Novak twice served as ambassador of theU.S.delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission inGenevain 1981 and 1982 and wasU.S.ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation inEuropein 1986.

Novaks talk is part of the OBrien-Smith Visiting Scholars Program and is sponsored by Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business, Center for Ethics and Culture, andJacquesMaritainCenter.

_ Contact: Jill Calderone, deans office,MendozaCollegeof Business, 574-631-3277_

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